


Man Out Of Time

by Little_Firestar84



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M, One Shot, Post Agent Carter finale, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24946405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Firestar84/pseuds/Little_Firestar84
Summary: Maybe being a man out of time, this life after death, wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe Daniel Sousa could finally have the chance of getting something- anything, really-out of life. Because, after having his heart crushed by Peggy when she preferred another man to him, there was really nothing waiting for him back home, in 1955.
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Kudos: 13





	Man Out Of Time

Sitting on a crate somewhere on the Zephyr, Sousa sighed, as he played with a medallion- St. Joshua, Holy Patron of Spies - a gift from Peggy, which he had never been able to get rid of, despite everything that had transpired between them. 

Clenching his teeth, hating himself a little bit for being unable to just throw away the damn medal, he angrily shoved the relic in his pocket, and sighed. He closed his eye, trying to control his breathing, to get his bearings, and let his head hit the cold metal of the hull of the plane. 

_ I’m an idiot,  _ he thought, not for the first time since 1949. He didn’t know why he had been so busy trying to be… collected and put together for Peggy (not that it had been Peggy to begin with, but, still..), when she had broken up with him over five years before. 

He grunted. It was five years for him, but for her, now that he was in 1976, it was almost thirty years. 

Thirty damn years. 

“So, getting adjusted to life after death?” Coulson asked him, joking. Sousa, standing still, studied his opponent, biting his tongue- the SHIELD agent acted a bit too much like a human to be a robot like he had learnt. 

Still, he wasn’t really surprised; despite what Future SHIELD seemed to think, he had seen stranger things happenings- he had fought a couple of battles alongside none other than Captain America, the Super Soldier himself, worked alongside Howard Stark, mind-control, an alternate dimension made of Dark Energy... maybe he had never met aliens (before joining this ragtag team), but he wasn’t a newbie at odd happenings, either. 

“Just thinking.” He sighed, his lips in a tight line. “You keep saying I died a hero, that there were… _there will be_ kids joining the agency because of me, but…” He lightly shook his head, standing, putting his weight on the cane and the fake leg. 

“I have to say, you seem rather… at ease with everything that’s going on. Trust me, first time I died? I didn’t take so well.”

“I told you, you wouldn’t believe what I saw back in my day. Had you told me right from the start that you were fighting face-snatching time traveling robot aliens from the future, I would have totally believed you.” Sousa chuckled, shuddering a little. “I just think that I might as well dive in and embrace my new life.” His muscles aching, stiff, Sousa closed his eyes and took a big breath, as to steady himself. Once recomposed, he moved quickly, past Coulson, giving the other time to catch up with him. 

He was joking. Only, not really. 

In the middle of the corridor, Sousa stopped dead in his tracks, and turned to face Coulson. He opened his mouth as to speak, but no sound escaped his mouth. They stood there, facing each other- Coulson with the little know-it-all smile, Sousa with his mouth closed as he tried to find the right words.

“If I don’t embrace this, what I’m supposed to do, then, uh?” He sighed. “Go crazy because I was supposed to die because I found out Hydra was infiltrating SHIELD? Or because I’m now a man out of time? Should I ask myself if you were always supposed to save me?”

“All right, that is much more normal behavior, given the circumstances.” Coulson chuckled, squeezing Souza’s shoulder. He did so longer than for comfort, and Sousa lifted an eyebrow, quizzical, his lips a crooked smile. Coulson got the hit, and, as he had caught fire, he let it go of the time-displaced shy, his palm staying in the air between them. “Sorry, told you I’m a big fan.”

For the first time since leaving his time, Sousa smiled- and almost laughed. “I mean, it can’t get any worse, right? I was supposed to _die,_ and now instead I’m alive, and besides, at least _you_ value me. Back home, I didn’t have anyone who truly cared about me any longer, not after Peggy left me to get married to another man after I broke my engagement twelve hours after proposing because she said she was in love with me.”

Coulson didn’t say anything- he didn’t know what to say, how to answer. Sousa was a good man, a good agent- and he had gotten his heart broken. He had risked it all to get his happily ever after, only to be left outside alone in the cold. Only to be betrayed by the woman he loved.

“C’mon, let’s get back to work, and see when the Zephyr dragged us this time.” He patted his shoulder, just once, and together they walked towards the control.

Maybe life after death wasn’t so bad, Sousa thought. Maybe, just maybe, he could finally get something out of this. 

Maybe, just maybe, it was the second chance he had always been craving. 


End file.
